Yuru-Yuri

Anyone who has become an Anime fan that goes above your average “English” dubbed Naruto watching idiot (No offense intended), into actually watching anime in Japanese audio, should be able to tell what “Yuri” is. Yuri is basically “ガールズラブ” or Girl’s Love, which is a genre in novels, manga, and animation that involves, obviously, girl on girl action... just kidding but as the name suggests, this genre is driven by stories, usually romantic, in where both partners are females. Having this in mind, I went ahead excited to see what crazy ecchi shenanigans Yuru-Yuri had to offer.

Yuru-Yuri starts quite normally, a few gags here and there but nothing really tells me that this show is actually “Yuri” genre, in example: Candy Boy. The story begins with Akari (Red hair) waking up to a very common anime morning routine, friends waking the “main” character, her being late, self-narrated introduction by the character, and off course, forgetting something crucial such as actually dressing in her uniform before leaving to school. In a very misleading way Yuru-Yuri presents Akari as the main protagonist, strangely the begging and the pre-opening sequences for the show are the only places where Akari is actually a significant character for the series. This anime mainly revolves around Kyouko (Blond Hair) and Yui (Dark Hair) together with Akari and Chinatsu (Pink Hair) and their cute/funny adventures through a portion of their middle school daily life.

This show is also packed with enough “Kawaii” and “Moe” to make any Otaku drown in their chairs and the animation is incredibly pretty and extremely colorful giving us a very pleasant view to enjoy at all times. Besides having a very nice animation I truly believe that the characters are really what make Yuru-Yuri stand out of other similar amines. Kyouko seems to be the most important character out of all the girls. She is basically an energizer rabbit jumping from one crazy idea to another leaving Yui, who is her best childhood friend, with no choice to follow her or abruptly stopping her showing a more mature side of the group. Chinatsu is basically the fourth girl and her but eventually we are able to find that her cuteness and pink hair actually hide a leopard waiting to attack. Akari seems to be the least interesting character and I believe this was intentional by the authors because of the many running gags this anime shows that constantly reminds us of her lack of presence. Eventually we get to know a very decent numbers of characters which like the rest of the main characters have colorful and interesting traits that separates them from each other… even twins.

For an Anime that stands at 12 episodes long and averaging 23 minutes per episode, Yuru-Yuri does stand out a little more than other similar series which tend to overuse their “Moe” power, in example: A-Channel from spring 2011. All the characters are very Kawaii and this school setting reminds the viewer not to expect much of a story rather than very randomly and cute school shenanigans. There is some “ecchi” but it is really minimal, at the same time some “Yuri” is included, for example: *SPOILER* Chinatsu forcibly stealing a kiss from Akari, but in reality it is not a full flesh Yuri show… Ending was pretty funny though =)

Overall Yuru-Yuri delivers anime fans a funny and entertaining school slice of life. The use of their interesting characters really sets this show apart from the rest making its lack of story or plot not very noticeable. I love its happy atmosphere and its ecchi/yuri moments are incredibly funny but at the same time the show makes sure not to over use them like many shows out there often do. If you are a hardcore lover for “Yuri” genre this show is definitely NOT for you, but if you are just a fan for “Moe Anime” and just looking for something entertaining to watch, I truly believe this show is exactly what you need.